Maruwai coal project

The Maruwai coal project, which has also been referred to by BHP Billiton as the Indonesia Coal Project, covers five potential coal deposits in East and Central Kalimantan in Indonesia. The undeveloped metallurgical and thermal coal deposits are erstimated to have a total coal resource of 774 million tonnes. The five deposits -- the Lampunut coal project, the Haju coal project, the Luon coal project, the Bumbun coal project and the Juloi Northwest coal project -- are located within seven Coal Contracts of Work (CCoWs) that BHP Billiton held.

In July 2009, following the global financial crisis, BHP Billiton announced that it was shelving the project after reviewing work on the Haju trial mine. In a brief media release the company stated that it had "assessed the progress of the Haju trial mine and determined it is not a sufficient fit with our long term investment strategy." It also stated that "further evaluation of the company’s interests in the Maruwai Coal Project is underway to determine the best future commercial options."

In March 2010 BHP Billiton announced that it had entered into "binding agreements to create a new joint venture for its Indonesian Coal Project (ICP) with a subsidiary of PT Adaro Energy TBK (Adaro), which has agreed to acquire a 25 per cent interest in the ICP joint venture. BHP Billiton holds the remaining 75 per cent." In May 2010 it was announced that Adaro's 25% stake had cost $335 million.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * BHP Billiton's coal interests
 * Indonesia and coal

External resources

 * Dave Murray, President BHP Billiton Metallurgical Coal, Analysts and Investors Site Visit", Queensland, June 2, 2005. (See slides 62-68 "BHP Billiton Maruwai Coal Project" for an overview of the proposed project).